WASHINGTON — A growing number of colleges nationwide are scrambling to fill classes, a trend analysts say is driven by a decline in the number of students graduating from high school and widespread concern among families about the price of higher education.

The admissions upheaval, affecting a wide range of colleges, contrasts with the extraordinary demand for the most elite colleges and universities.

Demographics pose a major hurdle. The number of new high school graduates peaked in 2011, after 17 years of growth, and is not projected to reach a new high until 2024, said the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

The economic recovery is hurting enrollment because fewer people go to college when jobs are available. Nationwide, enrollment fell 2 percent this past school year.

All of this means a new bottom line for colleges, said Brian Prescott, the commission’s director of policy research. “They’ve got to sweat whether or not they’re going to be able to make their classes, in ways they didn’t before,” Prescott said.

For colleges, the uncertainty often means that crucial decisions about how many applicants to admit and how much financial aid to offer are reduced to sheer guesswork.

Students may get more leverage at a school that is not in the top tier, college analyst Edward Fiske said. “If you can pay full freight, it’s a buyer’s market,” he said.

The decline in prospective students and the enormous costs associated with running a college create a challenge for schools that rely on tuition to pay the bills.

Families appear to be more price sensitive than in the past, and they might be in a better position to pick and choose from among certain kinds of schools based on how much they cost.

With high fixed expenses, few colleges are rolling back prices.

Average tuition and fees have soared 27 percent, to $8,893, at public four-year colleges since 2008, and they have risen 14 percent, to $30,094, at private nonprofit schools.

Analysts say that it’s clear higher education has begun a retrenchment. At any rate, it’s certainly true that for many colleges, teenagers with academic mettle and financial means are in short supply.

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